A-porkalypse Now!

The Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival visits New York in a one-day, two-session pig celebration featuring local and visiting BBQ pitmasters. Come hungry!

Tickets are available as of today but in very limited quantities, so pick your session (both-session tickets are sold out) and get your tickets.

In addition to the main attraction, live Bluegrass Music and cigar-sampling (in a separate heated tent) are also promised. For true afficionados (and do-it-yourselfers), seminars from brewers, distillers and Mixologists are also on the schedule.

When: January 26, 2013 12-4PM (Session I) and 5:30-8:30 PM (Session II)
Where: 608 West 28th STreet (La.Venue/The Tunnel)
Website: http://www.beerandbourbon.com/new-york/show-info

If you aren't familiar with classical clowning (think Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Marcel Marceau), or if it's something you thought you left behind after a brief semester in college, this is a great way to appreciate the pure art form of classical clowning, and see it with a few twists. See one performance or buy a 5-pack.

When: September 7-30, 2012
Where: Brick Theater, 579 Metropolitan Ave Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Website: http://bricktheater.com/

DreamUp Theater Festival

Theater for the New City will present a lineup of wide-ranging and original theatrical visions embracing drama, poetry, music, and dance in the summer of 2012 from performing artists representing theater and performance companies in their theater complex in downtown New York.

The Dream Up Festival is dedicated to new works from both performance groups and individuals. Plays, dance theater, solo works and interdisciplinary material are included.  Theater for the New City prides itself on keeping ticket prices low - $12-15 each, which is a real bargain in NYC, where ticket prices routinely start at $50 for Off-Broadway shows.

When: August 19 - September 9, 2012
Where: Theater for New City, 155 First Avenue(between 9th and 10th Streets).
Website: http://www.dreamupfestival.org/

Four free shows of classical, chamber, choral and orchestral music, jazz and world are featured annually at the Washington Square Music Festival.  The festival is free and runs Tuesday through July.

The first performance is July 10 at St. Joseph's Church on Sixth Avenue and Washington Place in Greenwich Village and features the Festival Chamber Orchestra and West Village Chorale performing a concert of Music & Poetry. The concert is free but seating is first-come, first-served.

When: Four consecutive Tuesdays in July starting July 10, 2012
Where: St. Joseph's Church and/or Washington Square Park Stage
Website: http://www.washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org

New York Musical Theater Festival

Perhaps the next TONY winner will be found amongst this crop of 30 new musicals, debuting over 20 days starting July 9. Tickets ($25 per person) are still available to most musical performances. The festival also offers several free seminars as well as readings, workshops and concert performances. If you can't afford Broadway but want to see some great musical theater, this is a good place to go. When: July 9-29, 2012 Where: Various venues in the Theatre District, Manhattan Website: http://www.nymf.org

Green Festival New York

FestivalBuzz just got the paper version of the Green Festival's program, but you can check it out on their website . Just click on "schedules" to see the break down by stage or area of the venue. Just below, click "Event Guide" to get a digital version of the printed event guide.

Green is not the only theme. Activism is also healthily represented in the program, with talks on Occupying Wall Street to Urban Gardening to eating healthfully using food stamps.  Lots of green/natural/organic food and personal products are on display at the booths on the floor. The festival tries to be zero-emissions itself, and invites attendees to bring their own utensils as well as cell phones and batteries to recycle.

If you want to make a good impact on the environment but don't know how, this might be a good place to start. And yes, there will be music!

When: April 21-22, 2012
Where: Javits Center North (11th Ave btw 39th & 40th Streets)
Website: http://www.greenfestivals.org/nyc/updates/

Taste of Fifth

Another fabulous taste event is coming up  - this one for the Restaurant Row on Fifth Ave in Park Slope, Brooklyn.  The setting, Grand Prospect Hall - is one of the great ironies in Brooklyn - a beautiful old world baroque-style banquet hall (complete with courtyard featuring rushing fountain) overlooking the Prospect Expressway. Hey, at least it's easy to get to!  Come, eat!

When: April 18, 2012 6:30-9:30 PM
Where: Grand Prospect Hall - 263 Prospect Ave, Brooklyn
Website: http://parkslopefifthavenuebid.com/tasteof5th

2012 Tribeca Film Festival Tickets On Sale!

The 11th Annual Tribeca Film Festival ticket packages are on sale now. This is the best way to get tickets to the most anticipated films premiering at the festival. Or, be adventurous and choose the "Programmer's Picks" package: 2 tickets to 6 different films based on answers you give in a questionnaire.  A great choice if you don't have any one thing you want to see.

If you only want to see one film, you'll have to wait til Monday, April 16, when single film tickets go on sale. If you buy with an American Express card, you'll get a 6-day head start and can purchase on April 10.  The Tribeca Film Festival lineup looks great this year! FestivalBuzz WILL be there!

Information about free Tribeca events such as the Industry events and Tribeca Drive-in (free movies projected outdoors) can now be found on the website.

When: April 18-29, 2012
Where: Movie Theaters throughout Downtown Manhattan
Website: http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org

New York City Auto Show Returns

IT's BAAAAACCKCKCKCKCK!

The mecca for all things auto returns to the Javits Center to cap off (or start off, however you look at it) another car model year.  Tour every recognizable auto label from Ford to Maybach to Porsche and Lamborghini.  Learn new things about cars and check out the concept cars (the most interesting part in FB's book) to get a glimpse of when the base model will drive itself and the in-dash robot can brew your favorite coffee blend. Tickets, as always, are required, but it's a good distraction for the Spring Break week, especially now that Ringling Bros. Circus is not making its annual stop.


When: April 6-15, 2012
Where: Jacob Javits Center
Website: http://www.autoshowny.com/

Varli Indian Food Festival

 An annual Indian food, dessert and wine tasting event, the Varli Food Festival showcases the culinary creations of over 60 top-caliber restaurants and caterers, and promotes awareness of Indian cuisine and culture. World famous chefs will demonstrate their skills in crafting signature dishes, displaying first-hand the unique art of Indian cooking.

Tickets are pricy at $100 each, but the benefits are pretty cool:

• a FREE spice market allowing you to pick and choose Indian spices to take home and cook with
• a Celebrity Chef CookBook with recipes from each chef exhibiting at the event
• every festival attendee will receive a gift bag with $500 worth of gift certificates to local Indian restaurants
• a full open bar and wine kiosks
• several dessert stations 

 FestivalBuzz loves Indian food, and might be spotted here as well!

When: April 5, 2012 5-10PM
Where: Metropolitan Pavilion 125 West 18th Street
Website: http://www.varlifoodfestival.com

Taste Brooklyn... Mmmm... Tastes Good

Another of the popular "Taste" series features restaurants from Park Slope, Williamsburg and other points in Brooklyn, coming together for your gastronomic pleasure.  Tickets, often over $100 at swanky Taste events in Manhattan, start at $50.

When: April 3, 2012 5:30-9PM (VIPs enter at 5:30, public enters at 6:30PM)
Where: 155 Water Street at Pearl Street, Dumbo, Brooklyn
Website: http://www.brooklynexposed.com/index.php/tastingbrooklyn

Craicfest Irish Festival

The annual Irish festival of music & film returns to the Tribeca Film Center and Mercury Lounge in Manhattan. Kids Fleadh on March 10 with goodie bags, short films, step dancing and music.


When: March 8-10, 2012
Where: Tribeca Cinemas (Laight Street at Varick Street)
Website: http://thecraicfest.com/
http://www.tribecacinemas.com/craic2012.html

KidsCafe Goes To College - Modern Dance in College and Beyond

 Dancewave's Kids Cafe Festival offers serious high school dancers an opportunity to see dance departments from professionally-based college dance programs in the metropolitan area and beyond.

The college theme is a twist on Dancewave’s annual Kids Cafe Festival, a popular community event now in its 19^th year that invites high school dancers from all over New York City to perform dances created by both student and professional choreographers.


When: March 3-4, 2012, 3PM
Where: LIU Kumble Theater
Website: http://dancewave.org/kidscafe.php

Flamenco Festival 2012 at NY City Center

 The four-day celebration of flamenco returns to New York City with four renowned flamenco groups performing. A beginner's flamenco lesson is offered for all ticket holders 90 minutes before each performance in the lobby at the architecturally gorgeous City Center.
 
When: March 1-4, 2012
Where: New York City Center
Website: http://www.nycitycenter.org/tickets/productionNew.aspx?performanceNumber=6264

NYC Bulgarian Film Festival

Bulgaria is not a part of Europe we pay a lot of attention to (mercifully they are not directly in the crosshairs with the current European debt crisis), but many films have won good reviews at festivals around the world. The New York version of the Sofia Independent Film Festival (also called The Bulgarian Film Festival over here) showcases 10 of the best films to come out of this small country in the past 2 years - veterans of Toronto and Cannes as well as smaller festivals.

When: February 21-25, 2012
Where: Tribeca Cinemas (Varick and Laight Streets)
Website: http://soindependentfilmfest.com/ny-2012/index.php

BAM Kids Film Festival

6 charming feature films are showcased in the 14th annual BAM Kids Film Festival. For the more fidgety, 6 shorts programs are also available, based on whimsical themes such as Who Knew?  and Let's Play! to the self-explanatory Animation Nations.  Free kid-friendly musical performances at BAMCafe help kill the time between screenings. Take your little one to some quality cinema and get them started early. Some or all showings  may sell out before the showing dates, so buy sooner rather than later if this is how you're planning to amuse the family.

When: February 4-5, 2012
Where:  BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Ave in Brooklyn)
Website: http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=3935

Motorcycle Show is Back

Yes, the motorized shows are back!  Starting with the Motorcycle Show, get a glimpse of the latest and greatest in 2-wheeled motorized conveyances.

When: January 20-22
Where: Javits Center (11th Ave & 33rd Street)
Website: http://www.motorcycleshows.com

2012 Brooklyn Israel Film Festival

This year's Brooklyn Israel Film Festival - hosted by Kane Street Synagogue in Carroll Gardens - features 3 Israeli films.  The first is The Debt, which I saw a month ago. It was very good.  The other two - Restoration and Dolphin Boy - received high marks at the 2011 Jerusalem Film Festival.

Tribeca Film Festival has had some other Israeli films that were fantastic over the past few years. The one I think of first is A Matter of Size, a lovely story about some overweight guys who find their niche in Sumo.  Netflix it. It's adorable.

When: January 26-29, 2012
Where: Kane Street Synagogue 236 Kane Street Brooklyn, New York 11231
Website: www.kanestreet.org/IFF

Second Moroccan Film Festival

A two-day film festival dedicated to the Moroccan film industry.

When: November 18-19, 2011
Where: Tribeca Cinemas (54 Varick at Laight Street)
Website: http://www.tribecacinemas.com/calendar/132317123.html